The past decade has been marked by a technological revolution driven by the convergence of the data processing industry with the consumer electronics industry. The effect has, in turn, driven technologies that have been known and available but relatively quiescent over the years. A major one of these technologies is the Internet (or Web) related distribution of documents, media, and programs. The convergence of the electronic entertainment and consumer industries with data processing exponentially accelerated the demand for wide ranging communication distribution channels, and the Internet (or Web), which had quietly existed for over a generation as a loose academic and government data distribution facility, reached “critical mass” and commenced a period of phenomenal expansion. With this expansion, businesses and consumers have direct access to all matter of documents, media, and computer programs.
Also, as a result of the rapid expansion of the Web, e-mail, multimedia files and documents, and real-time digital broadcastings (which have been distributed for over 25 years over smaller private and specific purpose networks) have moved into distribution over the Web because of the vastly improved server technology and channels that are available. The availability of extensive e-mail distribution channels has made it possible to keep all necessary parties in business, government, and public organizations completely informed of all transactions that they need to know about at almost nominal costs.
However, in the era of the Web, we do not have the situation of a relatively small group of professional designers working out the human factors; rather, anyone and everyone can design a Web document or e-mail document structure. As a result, Web and e-mail documents are frequently set up and designed in an eclectic manner. This often results in difficulty searching for Web documents containing specific Web elements, such as text and color. With the present invention, the user is able to scan in information regarding Web elements of a graphic. Subsequent users can search for a Web document containing specific Web elements, such as color and text combination in a graphic.
In one example, a user wants to search for Web documents with Web elements, such as an orange star with the text “Lonestar Roofing” before it uses such elements in its logo for advertising purposes. The user may also want to use the orange star without any text or words in some of its advertising materials. With the present invention, the user is able to search for all documents containing an orange star with the text “Lonestar Roofing” and also broaden the search by searching for all documents containing an orange star without text. In this example, assuming that the user finds no other Web documents with an orange star, the user begins using the orange star on Web documents as his company's logo and plans to use the same star shape in purple on some occasions. When the user scans in data regarding his logo Web elements into the database, the user can manually enter the alternate values related to the graphics, (i.e., that the star is purple), so that searches for a Web document containing a purple star will lead searchers to the user's documents containing both the orange star and the purple star.